4 Paws for Colette

Colette is a sweet, energetic, happy, and very curious six-year-old girl. She was diagnosed with Autism when she was only 18 months old. While Colette has many strengths, she also has many challenges that make navigating this world difficult. She is nonverbal and uses a device to communicate, has trouble interacting with her peers, engages in repetitive behaviors, becomes very overwhelmed in new environments, and wanders off or even runs away in public posing a significant safety risk. Colette’s dad travels most of the week for work and this limits the outings and activities we can participate in safely.

Though Colette is making progress through therapy, there are still many environments that are extremely overwhelming and inaccessible for her. To help open up the world for Colette as much as possible, we pursued getting her a medical service dog. We are so excited that Colette has been approved for a service dog through 4 Paws for Ability! The tasks that her autism service dog will be trained to perform will be life-changing and potentially life-saving for Colette and for our family as a whole. 

Here are a few of the tasks Colette's dog will be specifically trained to do:

• Anchoring – providing an anchor for Colette in public settings so that she can't wander or elope (run away) into an unsafe situation.
• Tracking – should the unthinkable happen and Colette manages to get away from us, the service dog will be trained to track Colette using her scent and reunite her with us safely. 
• Behavior Intervention – the dog will be trained to recognize and interrupt stimming, repetitive and self-injurious behaviors, or alert us to Colette’s behaviors so that we can properly intervene. 
• Calming and Preventing Meltdowns– the dog will be trained to provide assistance with meltdowns by providing calming and comforting interactions. If  Colette is feeling overwhelmed,  the service dog can perform deep pressure by laying across her lap. If she is crying, the dog will be trained to recognize that sound and come up and snuggle with her or give kisses to provide comfort. Often the service dog intervening will either reduce the length of the meltdown or even prevent it from occurring. 
• Assistance with Transitions – Colette relies heavily on predictability and routine. The dog will act as a source of consistency and comfort for her when daily transitions in her preferred routines are interrupted. 
• Social Bridge and Communication – Colette will have a best friend who offers unconditional love with no expectations. This relationship will help Colette learn and practice social skills that currently cause her distress and anxiety. The dog will be her “safe space” to work on engaging with others in meaningful ways. 
• Sleep - Colette currently wakes many times a night unable to settle herself back to sleep. Colette's service dog will sleep with her at night providing constant comfort.

We are so excited to see how Colette will thrive with a service dog from 4 Paws for Ability and to see how this dog will bless our family! Right now we are in the fundraising portion of the process. Once our full amount is raised we can be placed into a class and begin the two year wait for our service dog. Thank you for supporting Colette and our family. We are forever grateful for your support.

How Can You Help?

It costs 4 Paws between $40,000-$60,000 to raise, train, and place a service dog. Our family has to raise $17,000 of that to pay for a service dog.

Donations by check in support of Colette Hodge should be made directly to 4 Paws for Ability – be sure to write Colette Hodge on the memo line.

Mail checks to: 4 Paws for Ability In Honor of Colette Hodge 207 Dayton Ave. Xenia, Ohio, 45385

If you wish to make an online donation directly through the 4 Paws For Ability website, click HERE. Be sure to include Colette Hodge in the memo line so that the amount is credited to the correct account!

If you would prefer to make a credit card payment over the phone, please call 4 Paws For Ability at 973-374-0385.